You are here

Outfielder Carl Crawford (staff photo by Matt Stone at left) is a bit of a forgotten man at the moment. The Red Sox yesterday shifted him to the 60-day disabled list, retroactive to April 4, to make room for Aaron Cook on the active roster.

But Crawford continues to work towards a return in June or July from an ulnar collateral ligament strain in his left elbow that had Red Sox fans fearing he needed Tommy John surgery.

In an interview yesterday, Crawford discussed the latest setback in his 2012 season, tracing the elbow problem back to some long toss in Houston last July while he was on the disabled list for a hamstring strain.

"That's when the pain first started," he said. "My whole elbow was really, really sore, and it stayed like that for the rest of the year. I got an injection, but it didn't really help too much. I was icing it after every game, just figuring some of the pain would go away."

It never did, even over the offseason, so here we are. Anytime a player has a UCL injury, there's always the possibility of suffering a complete tear, and Crawford is no exception. To avoid that, he is undergoing platelet-rich plasma treatments and taking a few weeks off from throwing.

He's also not giving up on the 2012 season.

"I'm anxious to get back out there," he said. "It's killing me to just be watching these games on the sidelines. I was in Fort Myers for so long, and being in front of the crowd again and sitting in the dugout and hearing all the screams, that definitely gets you pumped up. You want to try to get out there."